[llvm-dev] LLD support for ld64 mach-o linker synthesised symbols

Michael Clark via llvm-dev llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org
Wed Jun 7 14:46:50 PDT 2017


> On 8 Jun 2017, at 4:53 AM, Rui Ueyama <ruiu at google.com> wrote:
> 
> On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 11:14 PM, Michael Clark via llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org <mailto:llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org>> wrote:
> OK. I see that the Mach-O linker is not even built when LLD is enabled in Release_40, only the PE/COFF and ELF linkers are built.
> 
> From looking at reviews it appears that Clang was able to be linked with LLD on Darwin about 2 years ago, so Mach-O support seems to have regressed.
> 
> Only a few changes have been made to the Mach-O port in the last two years, so I'd doubt if it has regressed. It could be the case that clang's output has changed in such a way that the linker is not able to handle it.

That’s actually good news!

If there is a Mach-O linker that is able to self host Clang builds on macOS, then this is a really good starting point.

From reading a tiny bit about the history, and the LLVM pages on the design of the various linkers, it seems like there is a difference in opinion with respect to the Atom based design of the Mach-O LLD, and whether or not there was to be an abstract design that supports ELF, PE/COFF and Mach-O. It seems not. One would also assume that LTO and/or -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections would obviate the need for Atoms, and that it may in fact increase the complexity of the linker.

From my cursory examination of the source it seems that lld/lib should perhaps be renamed lld/MachO and become the MachO linker besides the ELF and COFF directproes as the common code is not being used by the ELF and the PE/COFF linkers.

I just need to figure out how to build and invoke the Mach-O linker. There is no ‘ld’ in the llvm bin directory as one would be led to believe. I’ll dig into the CMakeLists.txt. I guess lld/lib//Driver/DarwinLdDriver.cpp is the entry point. lld//lib/Driver/CMakeLists.txt however only appears to define a library, versus an executable and there is no top level MachO directory like there is for the other 2 linkers.

$ lld
lld is a generic driver.
Invoke ld.lld (Unix), ld (Mac) or lld-link (Windows) instead.

$ ld.lld --version
LLD 4.0.0

$ lld-link --version
ignoring unknown argument: --version
error: no input files

If I know which CMakeLists.txt defines the binary that hosts the main function and installs it, then I can take it from there.

> Curious as to pointers to primordial branches with whatever needs to be resurrected. I couldn’t find any Mach-O cmake flags to enable its build. A pointer to a branch or tag that might have a working Mach-O LLD would be a start.
> 
> 
>> On 7 Jun 2017, at 11:38 AM, Michael Clark <michaeljclark at mac.com <mailto:michaeljclark at mac.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Rui,
>> 
>> The motivation would be primarily that LLVM/Clang/LLD are community projects such that if I or someone in the community added support for e.g. symbol aliases, then it could be reviewed and potentially merged. ld64 on the other hand does not have a community process for patch submission and code review that I am aware of so its unlikely that if someone from the community came up with a patch to support aliases that it would be merged.
>> 
>> In that case I might check out the LLD code and try linking “x86_64-xnu-musl” with it. My requirements are likely simpler than Apple’s however I do need symbol aliases and these are not supported by ld64. The linker synthesised symbols are likely not too difficult to add if they are not present… now on my to do list…
>> 
>> Michael.
>> 
>>> On 7 Jun 2017, at 11:30 AM, Rui Ueyama <ruiu at google.com <mailto:ruiu at google.com>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hi Michael,
>>> 
>>> The Mach-O version of LLD is not being developed actively, and if some feature is missing, it is likely that it's just not implemented. What is your motivation to use LLD instead of ld64?
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Jun 6, 2017 at 4:08 PM, Michael Clark via llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org <mailto:llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org>> wrote:
>>> Hi Folks,
>>> 
>>> I have a question regarding LLD support for ld64 mach-o linker synthesised symbols. I did a quick search of the LLD source and I can not find support for them so before I start trying to use lld I thought I would ask.
>>> 
>>> I have found a couple of cases where they are essential. i.e. where there is no other way to get the required information, such as getting the address of the mach-o headers of the current process, with ASLR enabled, if the process is not dyld as exec on macOS only provides the mach header address to dyld (*1). They are used inside of dyld and I am now using them in “x86_64-xnu-musl”.
>>> 
>>> It’s possible to resolve a mach-o segment offset or a mach-o section offset using these special ld64 linker synthesised symbols. See resolveUndefines:
>>> 
>>> - https://opensource.apple.com/source/ld64/ld64-274.2/src/ld/Resolver.cpp.auto.html <https://opensource.apple.com/source/ld64/ld64-274.2/src/ld/Resolver.cpp.auto.html>
>>> 
>>> There are 4 special symbol prefixes for the mach-o linker synthesised symbols:
>>> 
>>> - segment$start$__SEGMENT
>>> - segment$end$__SEGMENT
>>> - section$start$__SEGMENT$__section
>>> - section$end$__SEGMENT$__section
>>> 
>>> In asm:
>>> 
>>> /* get imagebase and slide for static PIE and ASLR support in x86_64-xnu-musl */
>>> 
>>> .align 3
>>> __image_base:
>>> .quad segment$start$__TEXT
>>> __start_static:
>>> .quad start
>>> .text
>>> .align 3
>>> .global start
>>> start:
>>>        xor %rbp,%rbp
>>>        mov %rsp,%rdi
>>>        andq $-16,%rsp
>>>        movq __image_base(%rip), %rsi
>>>        leaq start(%rip), %rdx
>>>        subq __start_static(%rip), %rdx
>>>        call __start_c
>>> 
>>> In C:
>>> 
>>> /* run C++ constructors in __libc_start_main for x86_64-xnu-musl */
>>> 
>>> typedef void (*__init_fn)(int, char **, char **, char **);
>>> extern __init_fn  __init_start  __asm("section$start$__DATA$__mod_init_func");
>>> extern __init_fn  __init_end    __asm("section$end$__DATA$__mod_init_func”);
>>> 
>>> static void __init_mod(int argc, char **argv, char **envp, char **applep)
>>> {
>>>         for (__init_fn *p = &__init_start; p < &__init_end; ++p) {
>>>                 (*p)(argc, argv, envp, applep);
>>>         }
>>> }
>>> 
>>> Michael.
>>> 
>>> [1] https://github.com/opensource-apple/xnu/blob/dc0628e187c3148723505cf1f1d35bb948d3195b/bsd/kern/kern_exec.c#L1072-L1111 <https://github.com/opensource-apple/xnu/blob/dc0628e187c3148723505cf1f1d35bb948d3195b/bsd/kern/kern_exec.c#L1072-L1111>
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>>> 
>> 
> 
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